Electric Light Orchestra fans point to Out of the Blue deep cut that ‘sounds like The Beach Boys’

Electric Light Orchestra fans believe they have found a song which sounds just like The Beach Boys.

Taking to the r/ELO subreddit, fans of the band suggested Jeff Lynne had tapped into the surfing joys and later art-pop success of the Brian Wilson-featuring band. A post to the Reddit forum saw users share their thoughts on Latitude 88 North, a song which was released in the lead-up to Out of the Blue, though failed to chart anywhere but Iceland. The lesser-known song still remains a solid part of their discography, and had a few listeners suggest it sounded somewhat similar to The Beach Boys. The original post reads: “Has anyone heard Latitude 88 North? I just found it and I think it’s great.”

Those who remember the song, which did not feature on Out of the Blue, say they “enjoy” it but can see why the song never made it onto the full release. They wrote: “I enjoy it, but I see why it wasn’t on the finished album. Now, give me Surrender or the original cut of Heaven Only Knows, those are some cuts.”

Another user asked: “Was it supposed to be on Out of the Blue?” A third replied: “I assume so, it was an Out of the Blue bonus track on the 2007ish remaster.” The song did chart in Iceland, and the lyrical context may be a reason as to why, with fans quoting the song in the replies.

One user wrote: “It’s so cold. Cold as hell!” Another wrote: “Thirty-five below and falling. How I wish that she was calling me.” It prompted a third to suggest the song was “funny” but “very warm” as a song.

Another user recalls where they first heard the song, which featured heavily on bootleg tapes after the release of Out of the Blue and before its official release. They wrote: “Funny you mention it. I heard it and found a bootleg CD of ELO B-Sides out of Spain called “I Put it Aside for You”. It comes in three CDs.

Has anyone heard latitude 88 north?
byu/Thatguyfrompinkfloyd inelo

“Bought them without second guessing. I know I could have found all of the songs separately on my own (like Japanese releases always had unreleased ELO songs as bonus tracks), but I liked how someone curated them all onto three CDs.”

Another fan suggested it sounds “like the Beach Boys” and is a “great song”. Though it took some time to release the song, Lynne later shared the “travel documentary” sounding track was near completion for some time. It was not until remastering Out of the Blue that he figured out the missing pieces for the song.

He said: “When I first sang the Latitude 88 North words, Richard thought it sounded like a travel documentary. He was right, it was all frozen wastes and howling winds. 20 years later I dug it out of the vault and immediately came up with the answer… All I had to do was sing ‘It’s Like’ in front of ‘Latitude 88 North’ and it all made sense.”